7/31/2009

This band has been around New York for a minute, and getting louder every time I come out and see 'em. They just dropped their first single "I don't wanna love you" and more is most definitely to come.

Vetiver is a folk band from San Francisco who released their last album with Sub Pop Records. They often play with popular "freak folk" sensation Devandra Banhart. Vetiver is currently on tour in Europe. The music gives you the feeling that you are out on the ocean in a sailboat on a sunny day. This music video is setup like what you see when singing karoake so that you can sing along. The best part is when the guy breaks out the the Gin Blossoms and Spin Doctor vinyls.

7/30/2009

Some bands make it. Some bands just can't quite seem to break free of the restraints of their genre despite their obvious talent. Budgie is one of those bands. Well respected within the British metal scene, Budgie was inspired by bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Their second album "Never turn your back on a friend" captures the energy of the aforementioned bands, and is filled with wailing guitars, screeching vocals and epic drum fills. These dudes know how to prog-rock. They never really broke out though despite the fact that they got the chops. It certainly wasnt their looks that held them back, look at these fucking studs below. Maybe its the fact that they are named after a goddamn parrot that has resigned them to being a footnote of rock music and not at the forefront where they belong.I present to you: Parents, an epic ten minute whale of a song and the centerpiece of NTYBOAF. Total facemelter. Lastly...Budgie does not employ a female vocalist on this track, that's a dude singing. He's just soooo metal that he sounds like a chick.Budgie-Parents

Motel Motel has come out with new video for their single "Coffee". When Mickey Theis was asked where he shot the video by the Village Voice he said:

"We shot it out in Jersey near a place called Andover. Matthew had told us that we were going to shoot it on the property of his childhood home. What he didn't tell us is that he hadn't cleared it with the family that is currently residing there. When we told [the homeowner] we wanted to shoot a video on the property, he got excited and even helped us out with it. He had all kinds of power tools and stuff."

7/29/2009

One of music's most eccentric and talented composers of the twentieth century; Louis Harding (aka Moondog) wasn't celebrated for his music until very late in his lifetime. His accomplishments are only more impressive when one considers that he was blind, and what he learned of music theory was gleaned through braille text, and by his own ear.

Before he became known for his music, he was known for his homemade Nordic themed garb that he could be found wearing on the corner of 53rd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan almost daily as he sold poems and leaflets on music theory to get by, which he did from the mid forties until 1974. Wearing a hat with horns and a cape certainly alienated him from a public which would only later be able to see the genius which lay beneath this outrageous exterior.As street poet, composer and inventor of several instruments, Moondog was the epitome of an outsider artist. His early recordings incorporate the sounds of the streets and subways, as well as an assortment of oddly tuned percussive instruments. Although it is extremely inaccessible to most listeners, he managed to catch the ear of the New York Philharmonic conductor Arthur Rodzinski who released many of Moondog's compositions in a series of Eps and 78s throughout the fifties. These early recordings are extremely rare and can fetch up to a few hundred dollars, however the music can be found on a few rare compilation albums which have since been released posthumously.While he lived in New York he managed to rub shoulders with a few major music stars of the time, including the jazz musician Charlie Parker, the composer Phillip Glass, and the actress Julie Andrews (with whom he recorded a childrens album) were all fans and friends of Moondog. But true fame eluded Moondog in the states, and any semblance of popularity was realized only after he moved to Germany in his late 70s.In 1969 at the age of 50 he released his self-titled debut on Columbia Records after being 'discovered' by James William Guercio who is otherwise famous for producing the early albums of the band Chicago, and for playing with Frank Zappa.This album is far and away his most accessible record, utilizing a full orchestra, of wind, brass, and percussive instruments. It contains the most fully realized compositions of his that Ive found. Having a full orchestra at his disposal allowed the power, anxiety, longing, and tension of Moondog's music to come through the clearest. Each track builds with tension until it ends, crashing drums are an underbelly to snaking violins and violent horns that scream louder with each burning moment.

Although it is his most accessible song on his most accessible album, Bird's Lament is still an unusual piece of music. Written as a tribute to Charlie Parker, the song find Moondog at his most light hearted and one can hear the influence of Jazz in the intersecting saxophone lines atop the looped string section.Moondog-Birds Lament

Introduced by a short couplet of poetry. Stamping Ground is a more typical work on this album. A percussive beat marks the track as it beats forward driven by horns which sound ready for a battlefield charge. Makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.Moondog-Stamping Ground

This is the song which kicks off the album, 2:34 of mounting tension, as shivering violins louden over a click clacking drumbeat, trumpets blasts layer over themselves until the murmur erupts into a roar that is sustained until it suddenly combusts into silence.Moondog-Theme

7/28/2009

Look at the size of this shark that washed ashore in Long Island on July 14, 2009. The little girl in the photo looks freaked out as I would be. There is an article about it in National Geographic. Next time your in the water at Jones Beach you can remember this blog post and stay close to the shore. Actually as scary as it looks according to the article “Basking sharks are the world's second largest fish, after whale sharks, and can grow up to 32 feet (10 meters) long. Despite their giant mouths, the sharks are not considered dangerous and feed mainly on plankton.”

7/27/2009

Angel-A is a fantastic black and white French filmcreated by Luc Besson who also directed movies such as Nikita, The Professional and The Fifth Element. The movie is based on an out of luck con man named Andre who is in debt to all the wrong people. Suicidal and desperate Andre's life quickly takes a turn. He is met by the beautiful Angela who is a stunning, sensual blond women who he finds throwing herself into the Seine river. You cannot help but to appreciate the aesthetic beauty of the film shot in Paris as well as the narrative between the oddball couple. This movie is inventive and superbly shot by the masterful Besson. You must make certain that you sit down with this movie one night and truly appreciate this artistic film. I urge you to go out of your way to find it.

If you watch the video below you can see what an electric performer/showman he was. To try and explain what's going on here, let me preface it by saying that according to wikipedia, he had as many as 27 wives at a time, most of whom were his dancers. Later he had a rotating system of 12 wives at time. So that might explain what's going on here. Or not. Whatever, enjoy watching Fela do his thing in a live performance. The white dude you see at the beginning is Ginger Baker, the drummer from Cream, and a frequent collaborator with Fela.

7/25/2009

Jack White and his new band The Dead Weather graced the stage at the 9:30 club last Monday and Tuesday night. Having never seen Jack White on stage with his other bands The White Stripes or The Raconteurs. I was eagerly awaiting to see him play, and to hear what his new record label Third Man Records was putting out. This band came about when they'd gotten together for a sort of an impromptu session in Nashville and according to Jack "Things just started to happen. We didn't have a direction. We just went a song a day, two songs a day, whatever we could do and recorded them on the fly... There was no time to think about what it was. It justwas."The band consists of: Jack White, Alison Mosshart(ofThe Killsand Discount),Dean Fertita(ofQueens of the Stone Age) andJack Lawrence(ofThe RaconteursandThe Greenhornes .

Jack White came out to sit at the drums. and some dirty rock and roll is what took place. Gritty, bluesy, and loud and with Alison Mosshart singing straight from the gut with her cigarette hanging out of her mouth. It’s the kind of music that makes you want to leave your wife and kids go and drink straight whiskey and shoot heroin. The influence of Nashville is something I could defiantly hear. It was not liked by all as I could see a lot of the White fans not knowing really how to get into it and I even noticed one guy turning to his friend and saying “meh.” I thought it rocked hard. It was a little rougher around the edges then some of his previous work but quite a live show. Jack got up out of his drummers seat near the end of the set to pick up a guitar, and played one of the most somber songs of the night which something which the crowd really enjoyed. The friend I went with saying it was “his favorite song of the night.” The encore was of course the single and it was done very well and I was fully satisfied by it all; as for the rest of the fans wearing their White Stripes t shirts I think some of them were a bit surprised.

I'm fairly jaded about upcoming releases from musicians. I dont want to hype myself up too much about the strokes frontman's debut solo disc. But this video gets me very excited to see what the dude came up with musically.

Also this song was the last I heard from the guy, its off of the Dangermouse and Sparklehorse project, and besides the song with Wayne Coyne where he threatens to beat you up...this song from Casablancas about a whining bitch is the best thing going on it.

The elusive director will be taking questions after a screening of his film The Last Days of Disco. I haven't seen the film in quite a few years, due mostly to the fact that it is out of print on DVD for some reason, so I'm ready to check it out again. It stars my childhood crush Chloe Sevigny and the wordy quirky extremely sharp dialogue of the typically preppy and narcissistic characters that Whit employs in his other two (and more famous films) Metropolitan and Barcelona.

First off I want to say that most rap videos are entertaining, booties flying, forties pouring, yelling into the camera, seventy dudes in the background scowling...its all good, but this is on a whole other level. I don't understand why anyone didn't think about combining a raw east coast song about robbing people with Sesame Street characters before. Its just genius. What took so long for this to actualize? Also, I must point out that this song, "Ante Up" by M.O.P. is a classic that will never get old. It was my ringtone for months, and made receiving phone calls seem exciting.

Some friends of mine started a band called Shooting Gallery, and are starting to develop a following in New York. They recently began recording their debut self titled EP in upstate New York at the venerable Marcata Studio and the tracks will be fully mixed by next week. I hope to put some of those up soon. If you are in NYC on July 30th, dont forget to come to the show at the Sullivan Room. There will be free copies of the EP and as always an excellent live performance from the band.

I really enjoyed director Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, it was a well shot gritty story about a person who society forgot. Bittersweet at times, I was amazed at the compassion i felt for an over the hill washed up wrestler. Who would think to make such a movie, and who would have thought that it would go so well. I have great respect for this director, however his previous film, Requiem for a Dream is unwatchable for me. In fact I would go so far as to say that no other movie has ever made me feel so uncomfortable, ever. This is in line with a hundred other films I've watched, which most people would consider to be disturbing, Irreversible, Battle Royale, and Caligula...to name a few. Before I saw the film I bought the soundtrack on a friends suggestion, and I feel like I should have known better then to ever see the film. The music is tense, dark, and anxiety ridden. If youve never seen Requiem for a Dream, let these two tracks be a warning to you...if the picture above isn't warning enough.